Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Typhoon! closes after BOLI charges filed

Bend loses a Thai restaurant and bar.

Typhoon!, the Portland-based Thai food chain closed its Bend restaurant this weekend, along with four other Oregon locations and one restaurant in Redmond, Wash.

Bo, the bar also located in the Franklin Crossing building, closed, as well.

Bo Kline, the chef responsible for Typhoon!’s highly acclaimed dishes and president of the company, said in a news release that the loss of her husband last year made running the company too great a challenge and had taken a toll on her health.

The closure comes on the heels of formal charges filed in December by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry against the chain for multiple violations of state civil rights laws. BOLI found that the company “used its leverage over workers recruited from Thailand to impose lower pay, longer hours and unfavorable contract terms,” according to a December news release from the agency.

The company could be fined as much as $250,000 per affected employee if BOLI finds it guilty after proceedings scheduled for May, according to the BOLI news release.

Typhoon! was found guilty of similar violations of labor laws by the United States Department of Labor in 2004 and payed nearly $200,000 in fines at that time.

About 200 people lost their jobs as a result of the closure, according to the Typhoon! news release.